ISL 5: Jamshedpur FC two good for Mumbai City FC

MUMBAI: Jamshedpur FC began their campaign in the 2018/19 Indian Super League (ISL) with a 2-0 win over Mumbai City FC at Mumbai Football Arena on Tuesday evening.

The Men of Steel scored twice in each halves through Mario Arques (28′) and Pablo Morgado (90+5′) to earn three crucial points on the road.

Of the two teams it was Jamshedpur who settled into the match first with a early attack on the Mumbai City goal through Jerry Mawihmingthanga, showing their intent to press high and put pressure on their opponents.

Jamshedpur looked a lot more comfortable on the ball, adopting a passing game that often had Mumbai City giving chase rather than being able to control the game themselves.

There were a slew of chances for the visitors but they were thwarted each time either by the penalty area management from Amrinder Singh, or their own difficulties finding the target.

The break eventually came for Jamshedpur in the 28th minute when Carlos Calvo crossed the ball into the Mumbai City area where a waiting Mario Arques headed it over the line to open the scoring.

Going behind spurred Mumbai City into action with a couple of decent forays into their opponent’s half, however, they were repeatedly denied by Jamshedpur, and forced to deal with a wave of rapid counter attacks.

The back and forth continued with Mumbai City gaining more possession. Nonetheless, Jorge Costa’s charges failed to stick to their passing game policy. The players seemed to be more keen on playing direct football sending long balls from the centre-line finding Modou Sougou or Rafael Bastos. However it wasn’t meant to be and Jamshedpur retained their one goal lead going into the breather.

Mumbai City continued with that momentum as they came out for the second-half as they forced Jamshedpur goalkeeper Subhasish Roy Chowdhury into making a number of goal-denying saves.

The hosts started making greater inroads into their opponent’s final third as the second-half wore on with Mumbai City showing great determination in their pursuit of an equalizer, while Jamshedpur remained solid at the back.

The match started to become a little tenser as the clock counted down and Mumbai City even had couple of goals ruled out for offside in the final quarter.

First it was Mohammed Rafique who put the ball into the back of the net in the 77th minute, however, the referee ruled it out for offside. Then Sougou found the target seven minutes later but again the linesman had his flag up.

With five minutes of additional time Mumbai City threw themselves forward, but the visitors had other ideas as they scored through substitute Pablo Morgado in the additional time to to put the result beyond questions.